Last November, after two full years of trying to explain to my father-in-law that he cannot give away literally tens of thousands of dollars per year to various organizations, I had his mail permanently routed to our house so I could deal with his mail ourselves.
Little did I know exactly how much there actually was. To begin with, I was receiving between 5 and 11 pieces of mail PER DAY requesting money. And for six full months, for EVERY SINGLE piece of mail I received, I called the number listed, explained that they were asking for money from a vulnerable senior on a fixed income with memory issues, and asked them to stop sending mail.
Every single one of them... let me repeat that, EVERY SINGLE ONE of them apologized profusely, and promised that they would immediately take him off of their mailing lists. Nearly all of them cautioned me that it would take 6-10 weeks for his name to be completely erased due to pre-printed labels... so I labeled the envelopes, waited a full 12 weeks, and then repeated the calls to all the companies who were still sending us mail - using Power of Attorney to demand that they stop contacting him. After this I began calling again with the new mail, this time demanding to speak to supervisors, and giving people an earful about what I thought of their continued mailings, and repeating the demand that they stop sending letters while reminding them that I had already insisted multiple times that they stop.
Last month, SIX FULL MONTHS after I started having his mail forwarded, this is what one month of mail looks like. All bills and typical sales-ads have been removed, this is JUST the religious & political mail.
That's 30 pieces of mail; nearly one for every day of the month. Every single one of them, requesting his money.
By the numbers, these are the companies that have refused our repeated requests to stop harassing an elderly VULNERABLE ADULT, AFTER being told of his memory issues, and that he's living on a fixed income not able to donate to ANYONE ever again due to the 5-Year Lookback Law... AND after each and every one of these has REPEATEDLY promised me they will NOT be sending any more mail in his name.
The political groups that do not honor their promises are:
* Republican Leadership - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $30.
* NCPSSM - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $12.
* Aaron Miller for Congress - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $25.
* Dave Hann for Senate - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $10.
* Torrey Westrom for Congress - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $25.
* Mike McFadden for Senate - sent 2 letters, asking for at LEAST $50 total.
And bringing up the wall-of-shame for political mail was
* Rand Paul... a senator from KENTUCKY - sent 3 letters, asking for at LEAST $150 total!
In religious groups, this is who refused to honor their promises:
* Wycliffe - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $25.
* Navigators - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $20.
* Life Outreach International - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $27.
* Open Doors - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $25.
* Biblica - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $10.
* Chosen People International - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $15.
* International Fellowship of Christians & Jews - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $17.
* FRC Action - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $25.
* One Hope - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $50.
* Focus on the Family - sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $9.95.
* American Family Association -sent 1 letter, asking for at LEAST $35.
* Hillsdale College - sent 2 letters, asking for at LEAST $35.
* Campus Crusade for Christ - sent 2 letters, asking for at LEAST $50 total.
* ACLJ - sent 2 letters, asking for at LEAST $90 total.
And bringing up the shameful practice of failing to deliver on their promise to stop exploiting the elderly was
* Billy Graham - who sent 3 letters all asking for money... while not suggesting a specific amount.
I have heard people say that these mailings are random. My response to that is, baloney. I have not EVER received mail from ANY of these associations. And even while all this was coming in for my father-in-law, we STILL never received a single piece from any of these companies, in our own name.
Shame on you. Shame on you ALL. Your practices of preying on the elderly and vulnerable, ESPECIALLY after being TOLD an individual is a legally defined vulnerable adult, disgusts me.
I only pray that those who read this, take note of these groups and refuse to support them, as they obviously do not honor their own word. Perhaps if enough people were to take note, they would be forced to honor their own word and not exploit the helpless.
16 comments:
I have sent an email with several suggestions:
1.sticker on mailbox stating: NO JUNK MAIL.
2. Register online at DirectMail.com and complete a National Do Not Mail form.
3. DO NOT OPEN 1st Class Mail...DO Cross out the address & bar code on 1st class mail, Make an arrow pointing to the Senders address & circle the 1st class postage & write "refused: return to sender" & put into mailbox.
4. Register with Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The DMA is an online tool developed to help consumers control the mail they receive. When you register, you are able to decide the type of commercial mail that is sent to you. You may choose to receive no unsolicited mail or only those pieces that interest you. This means that after some time the mail you receive will reflect your interests.
Register for a list. It may sound counterintuitive, but by contacting the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service, you are putting yourself on a "Do Not Mail" list for their members. It does cost $1, but that will be a buck well spent.
You must reregister with Direct Marketing Association and the Mail Preference Service every 5 years: Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, New York, 10512.
keep track of who you have contacted.Report any noncompliant companies.
4. When you register with this service (for a $1 fee), your name will be put on a “delete” file and made available to direct-mail marketers.
Mommy
Yep, we've done all this. It's changed nothing. They're highly persistent, and over half the people who contact him are exempt because they're "non-profit".
Seriously, we've tried it "all".
I think all those suggestions would work for marketing/sales mail but the trap seems to be the "non-profit" nature of politico-religious organizations (and the boundary does get very blurred here). The Direct Marketing Assocaition service website says: When you register with MPS, your name and address are placed on a "do-not-mail" file. All DMA members are required to run their list of prospective customers against the MPS file, to remove the individuals who have registered with MPS from their mailings...Although registration with MPS will help to reduce the amount of unsolicited mail that you receive, it will not stop all unsolicited mail. You may continue to receive mail from companies with which you already do business and from non-DMA organizations which do not use MPS. In addition, you may continue to receive mail from local merchants, professional and alumni associations, political candidates, office holders...and others.
So I think this is a great idea if your problem is with entities trying to market/sell something, but not helpful with non-profits seeking donations.
Also I suspect that individual organizations may be deleting his name from their proprietary list, but then re-purchasing it with mass listings of "likely prospects." I doubt that they are ethical enough (or willing to put in the work) to cross-check newly purchased names from the names they have been recently asked to delete. And with his **long** history of prolific donation practices, he has got to be a prime prospect on may lists.
I am sorry it to me so long to find you. Are you sill getting junk mail? I am going through the same thing right now and started a blog about stopping junk mail. Tell me who is still sending you stuff and I will tell you who to contact to make it stop.
I'm sitting at my dining table with 30 PEICES of mail ,yesterday's. Iv gone on line to all the religious & POLITCAL, organizations, Iv bought $40 worth stamps, mailed them, also the " no postage nessary" ones, Iv refused sender, Iv called all I could get their numbers,off line, web sites. I'm crazy. 20 at least every day, just because I volunteered $20 a mo to Wounded Warriors & $20 to a conservative political org, a yr ago. Now I get 15 to 20 letters aday. I'm 75 yrs old. Iv spent at least 3 days & $40 + registering with DMA. And u say it won't stop it? My back is killing me, doing this. I can't even go off over night, cause my mail box won't hold 2 days gone. HELP
Today Iv been going on some of their websites & clicking on ,"contact us"& sending emails asking them to take me off their postal & email lists. Hoping ALL,Iv been doing since 8 am today will cut it down at least some, in the next 6 weeks, which the ones I called said , would stop. Some even said it would take 3 or 6 mo to stop. I'm going to post office when I mail some & ask for help, but it's the gov, & they haven't ever helped me.lol, laughing to keep from crying.
Granny T, Stop the monthly donation to Wounded Warriors, and who ever else you have sent money to. Next come over to my blog, I can help you out, https://drowndinginmail.wordpress.com/start-here/
You can do this. It will take time. The chances are the people at the post office won't be able to help you. Their livelihood depends on junk mail. Keep track of who you have contacted today. If you get junk mail from them in 8 weeks contact the DMA and file a complaint https://drowndinginmail.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/drowning-in-junk-mail-how-to-opt-out-of-junk-mail-using-a-dma-ethics-complaint/ also contact your state attorney general and file a complaint with them. You are being harassed and the people who are harassing you need to be called on the carpet for what they are doing to you.
If you have access to a smart phone get the PaperKarma app. All you do is take a photo of the mail and the program stops it for you.
Non profit has only one job--to ask for money! Once a person gives, it is all over...give to one blind organization, all of a sudden 10 foundations start mailings...my dad gets 100 to 200 solicitations a day...this ot not a lie. The mailman bundles his mail for him nd he had to open up a P.O.box for his politcal, veterans, religious mail asking for his money. It is almost a full time job for me to try and get this stopped...but drowning in jink mail is a site I go to daily for help.?good luck to all of us in trying to stop all this junk mail
Go to FEC and type in List Rental. There you will see the Companies that are getting paid to send those political mailings out. Once you find the name, it's should be no problem to find the info on the company. Let me warn you, If you send $10 dollars to one, say for example Prolife, Your name is generated on a list that will be rented out for a fee to all fundraiser campaigns that believe in Prolife. And that's how the cycle starts.
My god, the poor woman I take care of, 886 years old, and literally, every piece of mail is asking her for a small donation. On her fixed income. Promises of getting rich with winnings, or threats about taking her social security income. Left alone, she will send them all money....as she has done before, then...sadly, shes out of funds way before her next monthly SSI. DO not mail lists simply dont do anything to stop it. Im going to put a very small amount of some dog poop smeared across the page...mail it back everytime. Illegal? hell I dont care...they are trying to take away an elderly womans only income. Bastards! Of course, 10 minutes alone in a room with the offenders would do much better....but for now, they will open dog shit. Arrest me, I could give a shit.haha literally!!
My god, the poor woman I take care of, 886 years old, and literally, every piece of mail is asking her for a small donation. On her fixed income. Promises of getting rich with winnings, or threats about taking her social security income. Left alone, she will send them all money....as she has done before, then...sadly, shes out of funds way before her next monthly SSI. DO not mail lists simply dont do anything to stop it. Im going to put a very small amount of some dog poop smeared across the page...mail it back everytime. Illegal? hell I dont care...they are trying to take away an elderly womans only income. Bastards! Of course, 10 minutes alone in a room with the offenders would do much better....but for now, they will open dog shit. Arrest me, I could give a shit.haha literally!!
My mom is 85 and she believes all this gabage mail. It keeps her awake at night and she sends donations despite all of our warnings. She simply won't believe us when we tell her it iaa scam mail. These organizations prey on the vulnerable and, in particular, the elderly. There should be a way to prosecute them.
I have a 92 year old mother who in one month, received 130 pieces of this polictico grap and other organizations asking for money. As powers of attorney, we sent letters to all this organizations asking them to remove her name and address. Cease and desisted. Very few stopped. One of the worse were, the Sourheastern Legsl Assovition and the Judicial Watch. Also.a number of religious as well. I am equally angry and frustrated with this money hungry vultures exploiting the elderly.
Same song. Now POA for sister in law.She got scammed on Facebook/What's up app. So started on getting rid of all the junk mail. Getting request for money from 230 different "Charities". So far in 2 months we have sent probably 325 written requests and called 60 that we had # to call. I can tell some stopping but like you said, some will send 2 a week, got from same place but using different name. I did all the do not mail. Do not call, etc. Usps suggested to rent a PO Box and nothing but First class will be forwarded from old street address.Get rid of junk mail by calling as received at PO box and when cleared out, cancel PO box or change to a different box #. All her bills are on automatic check draft from bank so no big deal to change 4 or 5 monthly bills to new address.
* Each charity will need to be contacted and request removal of name/address from their USPS mailing/marketing list. I prefer emailing them so I have a way to reply to original email if the mailer doesn’t stop.
Normally a companies email is found in their privacy policy. If unable to locate an email use their “contact us”, “live agent”, “feedback” options.
NOTE: Each name variation will need their own separate removal request.
* Register their address with Catalogchoice - free service that helps addresses reduce unwanted UdPS mail. Works great for past resident mail - just add their name variations to the name list.
PaperKarma is a paid service.
* Register said address with USPS informed delivery - this free service emails you daily the USPS mail/packages addressed to/to be delivered to said address (including past resident mail).
I registered both aging parents addresses with informed delivery - they have no use the servicer but I use it to aid in my removal request - attach the mailers image as reference. Use a fake/junk email or an old email of theirs - see truepeoplesearch for a list of old emails - you MUST have access to this email of course.
* Register aging parents with DMAChoice (caretaker option) - include ALL name/address variations they receive mail in as well as their old addresses - see truepeoplesearch. Their old addresses will appreciate the reduction of past resident mail.
DMAChoice also has a deceased individuals option - register ALL deceased family/friends, etc. Again, see truepeoplesearch for a list of their info.
* Register with DirectMail (National do not mail list) - again each name variation will need to be registered.
* Request removal from Infocision - main culprit for unsolicited chastity mailers.
* If they have donated to said charity in the past - log into their account (use forgot password/username trick) - update their preferences (marketing , security, your choices, etc.) - then close account.
NOTE: Closed accounts can still market to you and share your info with others so be sure to opt out of sharing & marketing before closing any account.
Two of my sister's were getting a lot of mail, the older one passed Dec 2021 at 89 and the other sister was in charge of the estate. She was also on every mailing list in the country and getting a full grocery bag of mail every day herself, along with the additional mail for my other sister. Sister 2 didn't have a computer or know how to use one so she was writing them to get sister one off of the lists. Sister 2 passed in January at 86 and her mail along with what is left of sister 1's mail are now forwarded to me as her executor and heir. We are still finishing up sister 1's estate and important paperwork comes in on occasion or I wouldn't have had her mail forwarded. It only took 2-3 weeks before the address correction reached them and I started getting her junk mail and a few for sister one. I am not getting the amount sister 2 did, as of yet. I have spent the past month calling, emailing and when no email or phone found, returning the address portion of the mailing, marking it deceased remove from mailing list and putting in the supplied envelope and putting a stamp on it, I found 2 rolls of stamps in my sister's house when we cleared it out. The sad part is each group sends out 2 to four mailings in a day, several times a week. The worst are The National Center for Public Policy Research, Project of Policy Interests, Public Policy Issues Institute, Citizens United and Federation of Responsible Citizens. All of these send out multiple mailings every day as polls, questionnaires etc, with different group headings, each with a donation slip attached. You have to read the fine print to find they are part of one of these companies. I have 10 to call today from Friday and Saturday's mail, that is after culling the 20 or more that I have already contacted from the pile. I track when and how I contacted them, when their 3 months are up, they will be contacted again if mail is still coming, my mailbox isn't as big as my sister's was, she had a large rural mailbox.
These groups prey on the elderly and those so totally hooked on the messages they send, most of the people don't even realize they are giving 2 or 3 times a day to the same company. This type of mass attack should be illegal. My sister didn't give to most of them, though she probably returned the surveys and the never ending useless letters to congress for you to sign to Impeach Joe Biden, get 2 or 3 of those a day.
I know that it will take a long time for the deluge to end, I am hoping that them being deceased with carry a little more weight that they are wasting their time. I also put them on the list that notifies other lists that people are deceased. I knew what was coming, I live across state, but every visit, I made the trips to the mailbox to pickup her mail, grocery bag in hand.
The lesson is be careful who you donate to, or you will be on every sucker list in the country, and don't return their surveys, questionnaires or letters they want you to sign.
On woman I talked to, to get sister 2 off of a list actually mentioned the deceased list option with the URL, I had already done so, but she was the only one to offer that information of the 70-80 groups I have already contacted.
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